NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski says James Harden is ‘very serious’ about returning to the Houston Rockets

For James Harden, his time with the Philadelphia 76ers may have come to an end. Yesterday in a crucial Game 7, he had 9/7/6 and the Sixers lost 112-88. Philly was down only three points at the half, but they scored just 10 points as a team in the third. This morning, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski says Harden is ‘very serious’ about returning to the Houston Rockets. 

Harden spent nine years with the Houston Rockets before he forced a trade to the Brooklyn Nets in the 2020-21 season. He played only 80 career games for the Nets and then he forced a trade in the 2021-22 season to the Philadelphia 76ers. After 79 regular and 11 postseason games in 2022-23, he may be finding a new home once again.

With the way his contract is set up, Harden controls his future. He has the option to opt into the second year of a two-year contract. If he doesn’t do that, the 10-time all-star would become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

James Harden is ‘very serious’ about returning to Houston, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/UodboahxBS

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 15, 2023

Rumors continue to swirl about James Harden making a return to the Houston Rockets for next season

On ESPN’s Get Up this morning, NBA insider Adrain Wojnarowski had some news to report about James Harden. The Hoston Rockets are in the running to win the NBA draft lottery and land top prospect, Victor Wembanyama. Woj also reported that even with Houston earning the right to take Wembanyama, they could still be in the mix to land Harden as a free agent.

“Our relationship is OK.”

– James Harden on Doc Rivers pic.twitter.com/C37vmqMz0g

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 14, 2023

According to Wojnarowski, he thinks Harden is “very serious” about making a possible return to the Rockets for next season. Harden has kept a strong relationship with Hosuton’s front office despite forcing a trade. Wojnarowski reported back in December that Harden “is seriously considering a return”. This is not the first we’ve heard of him possibly returning to Houston.

Since James Harden left the Houston Rockets, they have yet to make a postseason appearance. In Harden’s nine seasons with Houston, they never failed to miss the postseason. On top of that, they never had less than 41 wins in a season and had 65 wins in 2017-18. Since then, the Rockets’ best regular season was this past year with 22 wins.